Monday, April 17, 2017

Another Milestone on the Blogging Road—Are You Marking Your Accomplishments?

Today is another big milestone in the life of The Write Conversation, and in
my own blogging life.

And truthfully, I think it would be a shame to let it slip by without acknowledging it. ESPECIALLY because it wouldn't have happened without you all (my readers) and without my amazing columnists.

Yesterday’s post was number 2000.

So that makes today, 2001.

I just need to take a minute and let that sink in.

When I shared this information with my husband, his comment was,
“That’s just over 5 years of posting. I thought you’d been at this longer than
that.”

(Yeah, it seems
that way to me too. LOL!)

Actually he’s right, and he’s wrong.

If I’d been posting 7 days a week from the very beginning of this
blog, it would only be 5 and a half years. But I didn’t start out sharing a
post a day. I started slow—giving myself a chance to succeed—posting only once
a week.

The first post on this site went live on December 11, 2009.

Those early posts were rough. And many of you may think I’ve long
since taken them down. But the truth is, as bad as they were, I’m proud of
those first posts. To me, they represent my public claim as a writer.

I knew I had a long way to go.

But
I also knew to get there, I needed to start.

I’d waited until I was polished and perfect . . . well . . . I’d
still be waiting.

Funny thing is, that’s what the first post is all about. I wrote
aboutMastering Your Dream. As much of a
beginner as I was, I still knew that getting where I want to go takes work.

Enough about me.

The title of this post says what I want to focus on—helping you mark
your own milestones—in blogging and in your writing life.

Just by reading this blog, you are taking time right now to invest
in your dream. You’re making the effort to learn and grow as a writer. You’re
reaching out and encouraging one another as we come together to follow the path
set before us.

Here
are some things you need to be marking:

Your
first post: There are a lot of folks
out there who haven’t gotten past the fear of failure and actually published
the first post on a blog. You did, and you deserve to celebrate!

Your
first 10 email subscribers: Ten is a
number you can work with. It’s a diverse enough group to begin to spread the
word. Do not despise small beginnings.

The
first time you stick to a schedule for 6 weeks: I’m always educating bloggers about the importance of keeping on a
regular blogging schedule—publishing posts on the same day, at the same time,
every week. If you’ve done it for six weeks straight, that’s something to brag about.
A lot of life happens over the course of 6 weeks. You’ve kept blogging a
priority, in spite of the insanity.

The
first email you get about a typo in your blog post: This may seem like something to be ashamed of, and I’m definitely
NOT advocating slopping writing. But the truth is, we all make mistakes. If
someone cares enough to make you look good, you’re in a good place.

The
first request you get asking if you accept guest bloggers: If someone thinks enough of your site to ask if you accept guest
bloggers, that’s definitely something to celebrate.

The first request you get
asking you to be a guest blogger: Again, your blog has been read and what
you’ve written has been found valuable. This is another reason to celebrate.

Getting 100 unique hits in a month: This may seem small, but it’s really not. One hundred
people have stopped by to see what you had to say. That’s a definite milestone.
You should also celebrate 1000, 1500, 2500, etc.

Getting an email or comment
about how much your writing impacted someone’s life: This is why we’re doing
this. It’s so easy to get caught up in the numbers and forget that they’re not
really numbers at all—they’re people.

Comments on 5 posts in a row: It’s hard to get the right mix of subject matter,
open-ended questions, and blogging magic to get comments on every single post.
If you’ve gotten them on five posts in a row, you’re doing a lot right.

The
1-year anniversary of your blog: This
shows real commitment. Don’t look back with an eye toward what you did wrong.
Look at what you did right. Build on the positive, otherwise you’ll discourage
yourself into a bad case of writers block.

Getting more than 10 comments on a
single post: Pay close attention when
this happens, it means you hit a nerve with your audience. Build on what works.

Getting a comment from someone
telling you they were referred to your blog: This
means your audience is sharing your blog. It’s a big deal and important to
celebrate.

Your 100th blog post: Writing 100 blog posts means that you’ve published around 65,000
words (probably more). That’s almost an entire book. You have proven you can do
it and it’s time to celebrate.

Oh, in case you’re curious, below are some links to the earliest
posts, along with the stats (and you should notice I didn't even know enough to
use images to illustrate my posts). They're untouched. I've left them just as
they were when I first put them up.

21 comments:

Thanks Edie...I hadn't thought about milestones in my blogging. Reading through yours has verified I have done a lot of things right. A big part of that has been reading The Write Conversation over the past 3 years. I am excited about my progress and look forward to the future achieving more milestones as I go. Thanks for you insight and sharing it.

This was very inspiring, Mrs. Melson! I've only been blogging for a little over six months, but I've already been able to mark four or five of the things from your list ;). It's incredible that this is the 2k post on The Write Conversation! Well done!

CONGRATS, EDIE!!! them's a lotta blog words!! I hadn't thought much about marking milestones on my blog, but I did just celebrate my third blogaversary I, too, look at my first (feeble) blog post, and how far I've come!! You are one from whom I have taken cues (post regularly and consistenly, for one) and I'm excited how far I've come and where I'm going!thanks for all your great coaching posts and here's to 5K!!!

Congratulations! I'll hit my 1,000th post on my book review blog in the next couple of months, and I still feel like a learner. Thanks for the encouragement to celebrate what I have achieved, rather than wondering how I could have done better.